care more about this country than i do about a 20-year-old pledge. >> eric condition to . he did not say. what i know is the constituents that i represent and i believe most american people want to see, numb were one, more jobs created. >> now, the white house meantime is urging the president's supporters to pressure congress to increase taxes on the wealthy by releasing a report estimating consumers could spend dplooerl $200 billion less in 2013 if no deal is reached. joining me now live from capitol hill is luke russert. luke, what are you hearing from senators regarding this? i note that chuck todd said we should expect some to go against the pledge.

it's interesting to see what the house republicans say. >> that is the whole thing, tamron. sure, you're hearing the senate talking about moving toward a bipartisan deal. you're seeing concessions by folks like saxby chambliss and other folks, however, then tire debate comes down to negotiations between president obama and house speaker boehner. specifically what can he sell to the house republican conference. they've been very stubborn in terms of moving toward any significant raising of tax rates in order to garner revenue. we heard plans that they really do see a way forward with the combination of spending cuts, closing tax loopholes. this so-called vagueness we do not know the specifics oup, they're saying, folks, support this. however, we're hear from a lot of house democrats that they don't want any type of deal like that, even some saying it's bet gore off the fiscal cliff than

accept a deal that does not raise the tax rates. as much as you hear this talk it all comes to looking good through the republican house. we do not know yet. we know the staff's been working back and forthe. there's been all sorts of things floating around. to correlate for what the tax cuts would be for the rest of the decade. it's complicated stuff. both teams growing at it. i know they spoke over the thanksgiving holiday, but we are not close to a gentlemen's agreement like you're perhaps hearing from the a few united states senators, tamron. >> thank you very much. let me bring in news nation's senior political reporter lois romano and cnn contributor and strategist keith boykin. we touched on comments on morning joe. he released a little more

detail. it says in part republicans aren't against tax rate hikes because of one man or a pledge. we're against hiking rates because they're bad for the economy and hurt jobs. our first team points out it seems like the parties are ready to agree to a large point for taxes on the wealthy. the down side is the two sides can not agree on how to raise the taxes on the wealthiest lois. >> i think you've hit the nail on the head. first of all, i don't think they care about throwing groesher norquist under the bus. i don't think the pledge is great de. they can't be on the side of raising taxes for the wealthy. the obama cam paper and now the obama white house has framed this in such a way that all these politicians who had been dug in before are saying, hmm. you know, we've got to do something here because how can you come out and say, no, no, no, let's not tax the rich. the question is as you say how

do they get there, and think what they're going to try to do is come up with a lot of different caveats to have people save face so that some of these people from the very red states they say, well, okay, we're going to protect small businesses, we'll take them out of it. we're going to protect this person and that person. so as long as anybody can say -- go back to their districts and say we did something for you, but, you know, it's the real rich people we're going to go after, don't worry, you're not going to be hurt. >> it's interesting, lois. "the new york times" mentions one compromise. they seau loi effective tax rates rise for the wealthy woupt technically raising the top tax rate of 35% which would fall in line to some degree where everyone can kind of save face there. >> right. exactly. and in today's times, i think warren buffett also suggested to raise it to $500,000, not $250,000. so that could be more palatable, too, to upper middle class

people. they'll get a break up to $500,000. but it's very hard once you hit the million-dollar bracket to say, oh, no, no, we're going fro text those people. clearly these republicans are seeing the same poll numbers that obama is seeing, that this is not where the american people are right now. >> it's interesting you bring up the poll numbers. keith, let me bring you in on these. we know a exit poll combines. our first read team points out a republican pollster david winston says 61% say the better way to raise revenue is closing loopholes and reforming the tax code and they're seeing some republicans look at that particular poll over the one we've ma jorlly talked about, which is the exit polling. >> i wonder if these are the same republican pollsters who said romney is going to win in a landslide. >> touche, touche. >> you have to take this with grain of salt. the reality is the american

people knew what barack obama was running for when he was running this reelection campaign. he said he was going to raise taxes on the higher income people. he's following through with his promise. he said he's going to raise taxes on the middle class. he's following through on that promise. what's not getting stated enough is everyone will get a tax cut if president obama's proposal goes through because even people with the highest will get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. so it's not just a class-specific tax kuchlt it's a tax cut that refers to that part of your income and that hasn't been announced and discussed enough. >> what about the fact -- and we're going to talk with them a little bit later. congressman peter defazio, he's coming on with us a little bit later in the hour and he's indicate thad this fiscal cliff is not what everyone makes it out to be. in fact, he's in favor of or at least considering letting us go off the slope, cliff, whatever you want to call it to get a better congress in january. is that even proper to be

discussing it in that direction at this point? >> i know this is going to be a pastacy because that's been a big issue over there. the reality is i don't think the fiscal cliff is not a fiscal cliff. i think it's a slope. i don't think it's going to ruin the economy if it happens over time, but the reality -- the problem is we don't want to cut tax de ww wwe -- we don't want t taxes or increase spending in the middle of an economic downturn. you've got do it where you expect it. the whole fiscal cliff conversation is an acknowledgement that the stimulus actually worked. what we're saying is we don't want to cut the deficit too fast. now when it comes to the fiscal deficit -- >> i want to transition you to the other hot topic that we've been following. it's senator john mccain and his stance or lack thereof now against ambassador susan rice. let me play what he said

earlier. i believe it was november 14th and his new line of words, i guess, regarding her possible nomination for secretary of state. let me play it back to back. >> we will do whatever's necessary to block the nomination that's within our power as far as susan rice is concerned. >> she could conceivably get your voros for secretary of state? >> i think she deserves the ability and opportunity to explain herself and her position. >> lois, what's the scoop there there and what's behind this change? >> i think that john mccain is a very, very smart politician, and, you know, a smart politician doesn't want to box in the opponent like he tried to do with president clinton so that president clinton runs out and nominates her. i think everybody needed to kind of cool off a little bit and if he backs off, the president might not feel so compelled to nominate her. i mean i think he's taking a heat off a little bit. that's not to say that susan rice is going to get a free ride. i think there's still a lot of

questions about her, but i think everybody's sort of going back into their corners and taking a deep breath. that's my take on it. >> keith, let me ask you. d us this have anything to do with the fact for the first time the committee heard specific things from david pe trarks things that we have not been told but they have the information and have been told to back off susan rice or you have members of congress says this does not look good yet again, this african-american woman being assailed by white males who are, i guess, determining her fate in some ways. >> it might be a little bit of both. a drelgter of national int intelligence came out recently and said the talking points used by susan rice were given by the national intelligence. it wasn't by the white house or political people. i was an intelligence community decision. that gives her more credibility. yes, the optics, as they call it, to have a bunch of white men go after this blake candidate

running for secretary of state. i think the thing to me is they've called her not very bright or qualified. she was a valedictorian in school. fie ba eta kappa at stanford, a rhodes scholar. how do you say she's not bright? it doesn't make any sense. >> thank you, keith boykin. it's always a pleasure to have you on. thakt you both. they have decided a christian college in virginia can continue with a challenge to president obama's health care law. it once of several decisions the court will make this week including whether to take up several high-profile gay marriages. pete williams joins us. let's start off with the health care. >> they're saying they put up the wrong kind of roadblock to say that it violates religious freedom so they should have another chance to pursue it in the lower courts. it doesn't mean the supreme

court is passing one way or the other on the merits. they just think liberty should have another chance so basically start all over and see where that case goes. >> of course, as we mention, zeevl sigss regarding whether to take f the high-profile gay marriage cases. >> right. i think it's a fore gone conclusion the court will agree to hear it. which defines for federal purposes marriage is only between a man and a woman. that means in the nine states that recognize same-sex marriage you're recognized under the state law but not under the federal law and the changes are saying that's understand constitutional. and it denies them about a thousand federal benefits. the oink thing is whether they'll go full way and whether they must take gay marriage. we may find out the answers to these questions as early as friday. if not friday, perhaps as early as this coming weekend. >> thank you, pete. great pleasure having you on with that update.

and egypt's president mohamed morsi met with top judges this morning. this as violent protests rage in the streets for a third day. is a compromise in the works to solve the political crisis? we have a live report coming up from cairo. and online shopping records are expected to be broken this cyber monday. did you hear this? for the first time some consumers will feel the sting of the ee tax. which states and retails are now taxing online shoppers for the very first time. and join our conversation at twitter. you can find us @tamron hall and @news nation. [ "odd couple" theme plays ] humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans.

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welcome back. we're following developing news. the one-time prime minister and general abruptly quit this morning. he's known as a leading strategist as israel confronts iran's nuclear program. he's looking forward to spending more time with his family. he will spend his current post until the new government is formed as the new elections are on january 23rd. and on to egypt, things are calm right now after four straight nights of violent protests. tahrir square, a large crowd still camped out there. and just in the past hour mohamed morsi met with top judges. morsi issued a decree seizing

new powers. it sparked massive riots that killed one protesters. nbc's jim maceda joins us live. we were advised to be careful when saying morsi tried to seize power. specifically run down the decree or what he's seeking here. >> reporter: well, the whole issue of power is what's at stake, and you mentioned that meeting in your lead. that meeting with -- between morsi and top egyptian judges is absolutely critical to this whole playing out of what's going to happen to egyptians in this country. that face-to-face meeting has been going on now for almost four hours. there were indications going into it that a compromise was close, and now this gets into legalistic leads but this is important. it's about a constitutional crisis. it does appear that morsi agrees to a sweep of the decree which

effectively allowed him to rule at will. but now, according to this source, it will only apply to sovereign decisions, big decisions, like declaring wars. if it's true, it's a big backdown for morsi. they will be issuing a statement this evening. also more say came with other proposals. they're discussing those. what's getting a lot of play here is increasing a lot of non-islamic members of the assembly. they would move it from a simple majority to two-thirds vote to approve it which would mean that all the parties, religious or secular, would really have to get down to business and make some serious concessions for that new constitution to pass. but here's the problem, tamron. there's so much mistrust and animosity on both sides, and that's the real crisis unfolding, that even if there is a compromise between morsi and

the judges, opposition leaders say they're not going to accept any backdown or stepdown unless it means the whole resending of the decree. we know what the people behind me, the protesters who occupy tahrir square or clashing with the police, we know what they're saying. they want him to tear up the decree. so it's the growing division, you know, between the religious and secular in this country that makes it difficult. and tomorrow's mass protests even more tense and potentially violent. >> thank you very much. let me bring in "time" magazine international editor jim frederick. jim, we heard the latest details from jim maceda on the ground there. you've got opposition people who are saying even if there's a compromise, unless this decree is completely erased, there will be protests tomorrow, even violent, you heard jim maceda say. >> the heart of this is the constitutional assembly.

and the judiciary is a pretty avowed foe of the islamic movement. so the muslim brotherhood has packed the constitutional assembly. what you see now is in if compromise between morsi and the judiciary allows the assembly to continue, there's a lot of anti-islamic opposition who says unless he backs down completely off all of the decreesing we're not going to let it continue. and this is a real conflict. this is a real crisis of this fledging demoxie democracy. nobody really seems willing do that. >> how much of a problem is this for the u.s. in that the cease-fire with israel and gaza, this man was the lynchpin in all of that, and does that have anything to do with his timing in these moves this he's attempted to make? does he feel emboldened after getting so much praise just last week or the week before?

>> at root we're going to speculate it seems pretty delicious that at the exact moment that he's riding high for the first time since he took office, lots of praise from the united states add mministration saying this is a guy we can do business with, he's on the ball, foresightful, a statesman. not just a couple of days after that, morsi takes the opportunity to -- we have to be careful with saying seizing but he's certainly declared for himself powers that he's declared precedented. the opposition is ware ya that these are not the kinds of powers that people are accustomed to giving back once they take them. >> whatever his motivation, nevertheless, for the u.s., it's complicating it's awkward. it's awkward for the united states who is an islamic, democratically led leader, a new parter, somebody who can deal with hamas when we cannot.

it's probably not what the administration needed at this exact moment as egypt and the united states are building credibility with each other. the obama administration was able to come back to the republicans and say, see, this guy is not a radical, he's a guy that can do business with and the top line is he's demonstrating certain what seem like dictatorial or authoritarian impulses that one would not want to see from a true democrat. >> thank you very much. jim frederick, we'll talk with you tomorrow as well. still ahead, detectives who were investigating whether casey anthony murdered her daughter admit they overlook what could have given prosecutors a stronger case. key information. plus what congressman todd akin says he has to do to pay his mortgage now that he's lost his senate bid in the wake of his, quote, rape comments. it's just one of those things we thought you'd want to know today.

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can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. welcome back. two massive garment fires are triggering angry protests in bangladesh. a fire erupted in a 12-story building housing four factories. thankfully no one was injured. but on friday 100 people died in a fire -- saturday, excuse me. officials say workers could not get out of the building which had no emergency exits. tomorrow has been declared a nation dale of mourning for the victims. thousands are protesting. bangladesh earns about $40

billion a year. why peter defazio says we're better off going off the fiscal cliff and senator marco rubio working on a new proposal for immigration reform. it's similar to the so-called achieve act. what's the difference? we'll talk with nbc's raul reyes. he says in this case it may be better to dream than to achieve. after getting heat for gender discrimination, toys "r" us have now revamped one of their catalogs outside of the u.s. boys playing with dolls and girls with play guns. this is our news nation gut check. be sure to check out the news nation page. you'll see it behind newsnati . newsnation.tumblr.come. ♪

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willingness to break the no tax pledge spearheaded by grover norquist. it's proving to be a more complicated position for house gop leaders including eric cantor who gave this answer when asked about norquist's pledge earlier today on morning joe. >> when i go to the constituents that have re-elected me, it is not about that pledge. it really is about trying to sa solve problems. >> joining me now is. >> domenico montanro. the statement that eric cantor saenlt september to us or his office sent to us, they're still not for tax rates going up. they're okay. the difference is if you're going to be for revenue, the

norquist pledge says that you have to have equal tax cuts to offset, that in other words, keep government like norquist likes to say in the bathtub. he doesn't like it to get too big. i think in that way you might see some republicans violate that pledge but i think it's a muj harder pledge to get them to agree to an increase in tax increases like the president wants. >> you guys in the first read team, political team at msnbc point out that it would allow effective tax rates to rise for the wealthy without raising the tax rate for 35%. another was on who said for many of these lawmakers it is a way to perhaps save some face which is for some of them the ultimate motivation. >> that's right. i think any time that we see what happens on capitol hill, politics are still first and foremost and for a lout of the house members they have to worry

about primaries. that's the key thing here. for your the notes, it's important for them to look leak they're being bipartisan, cooperating, but they don't have to worry about a hard right primary in both cases because they have to run state wide. >> thanks a lot, domenico. there are many who are willing to jump off the cliff if the deal on the table does not meet their priorities. they're being called cliff jumpers. amove them, peter defazio and congressman peter welch of vermont. joining me now, one of the cliff jumpers. i don't know if he likes that name. ly not call you that because i don't like it. but tell me the motivation here. >> well, look. if the end of the month comes and goes on january 1st, the whole debate changes. we're talk about republicans can

credit inably argue they're voting to cut taxes because we would restore all the clinton era rates for evening. so they could say, well, gee, digit want to go there, but that's the reality. so i think it helps with that road block. and, remember, this isn't a one-day event. the economy doesn't go in the tank on january 1st or january 2nd. the one potential immediate change is in the social security tax holiday which i never agreed with. we're borrowing money. i think that puts social security at risk. but all of the other tax changes would be for next year's taxes, not this year's taxes. so you don't see that immediate impact. and then the stupid across-the-board cuts, congress should revisit that. we could find reductions of $100 billion that aren't across the board where you cut things that are useful and working well as much as things that are losers and go away. >> so under your theory and that of several ores, there's not as

you referred to an economic calamity. but you and i both know for example wall street. we keep hearing these business leaders and so many others are nervous and we could see an immediate reaction there if some type of deal is not reached before january 1st. >> sure. the millionaires and billionaires, they've got a sweet deal now. they will make a lot of noise to say, raise my tax rates and i'll stop investing. of course, these are the same people who spent $400 million, $500 million to get a president hired that would cut their taxes. >> it would certainly affect it if the white house is saying you'll go off this cliff. you're looking at them pulling back everyday americans for folks in washington who can't get a compromise even when exit polling show the majority are in

favor firefighter those making over than $250,000. >> well i'm not going for a bad deal and i'm sure there are quite a few of us. social security did not cut a penney of the debt or deficit. we don't need to cut it which is what a lot of the is executives want. you know, medicare has problems. we should deal with those. we should start negotiating drug price. that save 25s billion a year. they don't want to go there. the pharmaceutical doesn't want to go there. there are places to save money and make it whole but they're not the cause of the debt and debt we're dealing with. extraordinarily low taxes. for ten, 12 years we've been cutting taxes to create jobs. my question is where are the jobs. hay didn't come from the tax cuts. >> let me read something. this is part of the article that quoted your comments that says perhaps it's better to go over the cliff. it says with bad taste of budgets lingering in their mouths, liberals have a

particular reason to be concerned. he struck a deal with republicans to extend the bush era tax cuts iffer more than two years app last year's agreement to raise the debt ceiling, no new revenues, angering them again. is this having to do with anger or disappointment you felt the president needed to make in prior negotiations. >> well, he was boxed in when the republicans threatened the full faith and credit of the united states government. that's a bad deal. i don't think that's accurate or a part of the problem. but two years ago when he said he would never extend the bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, yeah, there's a lot more anger about that. we see a lot more steel in his spine now. he won a strong re-election on those issues. so we don't think that there's any reason he should back down or will back down on those. >> and real quick, congressman james clyburn was on in the last hour and he said this is an issue we should join hands and

jump over the cliff together or fall back. whatever it might be, let's join hands. >> well, i'd like to see a little more working across the aisle, but right now we're a little hobbled. we're dealing with a lame duck as a representative which i believe is much worse than the one we're gung to see coming in. there's 10 or 11 of the radical tea party types who aren't coming back and i think speaker boehner has been trying to move a little bit back more toward a moderate position. the question is if you want to cut taxes, that is after january 1st, then a lot of republicans, especially newly elected ones can say, hey, i didn't vote to raise those taxes. i voted to cut as many as i could. they're off the hook with grover norquist who is a formidable force with primaries on their side. >> congressman defazio, thank you for your time. i hope we have an opportunity to talk with you as the clock ticks. thank you, sir.

this bill would provide more visas for foreign workers and would make it easier for green cardholders to bring family into the country. gop leaders and the senate also say they're ready to get serious about immigration reform. senator john mccain, the latest voice calling for a comprehensive bill but nbc contributor rah ult reyes says the gop is in no position to take the lead. he writes the democrats won the election and with it the right to set the original d.r.e.a.m. act as the starting point for our immigration debate. raul is with us right now. so why are you not impressed by any movement or the movement that the republicans are promising to make? >> you have to remember that the d.r.e.a.m. act as the last version that we knew of it, it was already quite watered down from the way it started out. for example, they narrowed the age restrictions and eligibility so the republicans are trying to narrow that even further. >> with the achieve act? >> achieve act.

first with the d.r.e.a.m. act, if yo gou to college, serve in the military and meet other conditions you can get on the pathway with the sit extendship. with the achieve act you can get a nonworking visa and another type and then possibly citizen ship. for starters it was full, that's what people wanted. it narrows the age el imageth requirements. it makes people check in every six months with the department of homeland security which sounds a lot like patrol which is against the intentional d.r.e.a.m. act and it also ee long gates the time frame by which people can become full citizens if they're even able to and the republicans say they can do this because they want to prevent chain migration where someone become as citizen. that's what marco rubio's relatives did. a little hypocrisy there.

>> are you a little skeptical? we know the elections have -- if i hear this again -- have consequences but we know they do and 'zo demographics. is it that you see this effort as insincere or political gamesmanship in hopes of not suffering major losses two years from now? >> i think it's a little bit of both, a little bit of window dressing. but this is something latinos have followed so closely. latinos -- republicans and democrats alike, something like 91% latinos are in favor of the d.r.e.a.m. act. so they're following this closely and they recognize that the achieve act. it's like an inferior imitation. ice watered down. it makes it harder for people to qualify. just think about this. in the ten years we've been debating the d.r.e.a.m. act and pushing it back and it's died out a few times, so many people, thousands of people have aged out of the whole process. they've lost out on the chance

to be eligible. >> i geeb tot bring in the president and how he is factored into all of this. how does this force the president and his team to expedite in some kind of solution with republicans obviously scrambling to be first in line in some respect. >> well, you know, as you said the elections have consequences so the democrats are in the leadership position. they have spoken. ac acts, like the d.r.e.a.m. act, also the public. exit polls show about 2/3 of registered voters favor a path to citizenship for those brought here as children. we're not talking about undocumented people. we're talking about people brought here by parents. they didn't have a say. i'm always the optimist. i think the president's going to take the lead on this. i think we're going to see more democrats and republicans getting behind this. it is the right thing to dond a

it will be a tremendous economic benefit of bringing these people out of the shadows and into our system. >> still ahead of ""newsnation" --" >> had a bet on election night whoever would win the election, the other would have their head shaved? is that the idea? >> we know who won the election. so why are both the democratic and republican communications directors now bald? well, we'll explain. it's just one of the things we thought you should know. and cyber monday like you've about never seen before. we'll tell you which consumers are now being taxed for your the first time in history for online shopping. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome.

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well, cyber monday is set to become the biggest money-making day ever for retailers but many

shoppers are feeling the sting of online sales tax for the first time. residents in california, texas, and pennsylvania, are now being automatically being charged state sales tax at amazon and other retail sites. by 2014 at least five more states will also begin require ing online tax. only time will tell if the new taxes will hurt online sales. on this cyber monday sales are already up 21% over last year and analysts expect americans will spend $1.5 million by the end of today. you're at the largest amazon fulfillment center in the country. it looks pretty calm for the cyber monday we all talked about, diana. >> oh, tamron, it's buzzing here if you take a look behind me. it really is jamming with people

putting stuff into boxes and putting them on the shelves. but let's talk about that sales tax issue. i talked to the team here. they said they have an overall federal solution and they, too, are hoping something can work its way through congress that everybody can agree on. let's get back to cyber monday. today's the biggest day of the year for them here and the reason why is because it's the day that the largest amount of orders are placed. last year on cyber monday alone, 17 million items were ordered. now, so far we don't know what the numbers are aunt we won't know any sales totals until december but what we can tell you, right where i'm standing, i'm standing in front of the inbound area and all along there are trucks delivering items. by the end of the day, more than 350,000 items will be unloaded an put onto shelf here's and clearly will be making their way to somebody's home for christmas. if you're wondering what items are selling, go to their website. there's a whole item list of trends and bestsellers.

we're seeing that for kids the elf on the shelf, the kindle, levis for men are selling really well, digital cameras and books like "diary of a wimpy kid." a good idea to go to that website and get what you want before it goes out of stock. >> great pleasure having you on. still ahead, have you heard of this story? toys "r" us is throwing stereotypes about gender out the window in one of its latest holiday catalogs. they're going to show boys playing with dolls and girls playing with guns. is this a movie that's in the right direction? it's our newsnation gut check. ♪ [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel.

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todd akin tells reporters he needs do something to pay his mortgage. he's thinking about writing a book. akin suffered a double-digit loss in his senate campaign to income went democrat clair mccase skill after his infamous comments regarding legitimate rape. actor more indigan freeman lent his voice. >> freedom, justice, and human dignity have always guided our journey toward a more perfect viewing. now across our country we're standing together for the right of gay and lesbian communities to marry the person they love. on the rundown bipartisan baldness. dnc spokespersons, they made a bet before the election that

whichever candidate lost, they would have to shave their head for cancer research. >> i lost the bet. he in a very good natured bipartisan way decided that he would jump in and he would do it together. >> it's a wonderfully important charity that focuses all of its money on raising money for research and childhood cancers and they raise all their money by shaving heads. >> and they are an amazing chari charity. a lot of teenagers especially participate around the country. these two look pretty good with bald heads. those are the things we thought you should know. and time now for the news nation gut check. mega store chain toys "r" us is going gender-neutral in its catalog in sweden. it features boys playing with balls and toy vacuum cleans sho.

in a statement the company said, quote, with the new way of thinking about gender, that's nothing that is right or wrong. a toy is not a boy or a girl. it's a toy for children. so what does your gut tell you? should toys "r" us make their catalog in the u.s.? full disclosure. my first job was at toirs are us when was 14. i worked in the stuffed animal sengz. that does it for this edition of "newsnation." i'm tamron hall. tomorrow on "newsnation" you can catch us of course at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll be right here for you. "the cycle" is up next. pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less?

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fiscal cliff. sorry, steve, slope isn't as dramatic. this is a tease. >> i'm steve kornacki and i wouldn't do that. the person we turn to for answers when the arab spring first sprung. >> i'm krystal ball. it's so secret it has to be hand carried from office to office. it's a story the administration divided on one of the most controversial tools. >> i'm susan del percio. s.e.'s on assignment. >> you're in "the cycle" where anything can happen. we're back to work here on "the cycle" today and congress is slowly making its